i f6c06dd9cf3fe221 by Unknown (100 books to read in a lifetime .txt) 📗

lot about it, lately, and I think more care should be taken over the choice of priests. Quite a number of them lose more Catholics than they convert.

But my real reason for going tonight was to keep the peace at home; it makes things easier for my mother. "

"Does she go?"

"No, her legs are so bad. What is really wrong with her legs, doctor?"

"It's dropsy, Kate."

"Is it very serious?"

"Well, she needs a lot of rest; she should keep her legs up as much as possible."

Kate sighed, and they were silent tor a moment.

Rodney looked at his watch: "Time's getting on, Kate. Let's get out for a moment and take a breather on the hill, eh?"

She nodded. He got down and came round the car and helped her to alight. As he touched her, back floated the warm, disturbing feeling.

He stood near her, on the road, and looked at her face as she gazed up into the sky and inhaled deeply. His throat felt tight, his muscles gathered into knots in his arms, he moistened his lips; her face, pale and lovely, began to draw him, as if over a great distance. He was saying to himself, "It's no good; I want her, and I'm glad I want her,"

when her voice recalled him to himself: "There's a car coming over the hill," she said, with the crispness of tone she had used before.

He turned and looked at the oncoming car and sighed heavily. Then, taking her lightly by the elbow, he led her on to the hill.

Two of the occupants of the passing car watched Rodney and Kate, shoulder to shoulder, walk over the sparkling grass. They craned round until the figures disappeared into the shadows and blurr of the hillside.

Mrs. Richards was the first to speak: "Upon my word! I would never have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. At one o'clock in the morning I What do you make of it, Joe?"

Doctor Richards, the look of surprise still on his face, settled himself further into his seat.

"Well, what can you make of it?"

"That was the Hannigan girl, wasn't it?" said Jennie Richards, leaning forwards from the back seat towards her mother.

"The one Miss Tolmache dresses like a duchess."

It's a question as to who dresses her, Mrs. Richards thought; but she said aloud, primly, "Whether it was or not, you keep your mouth shut, Jennie."

"Oh, don't treat me as a child, mother," said Jennie petulantly.

"Why, it's common knowledge that Doctor Prince is the father of her child 1 And he certainly makes

no secret of it; he takes the kiddie all over the place in his car.

"

To the peril of them all. Doctor Richards swung round in his seat, his head nearly colliding with his wife's.

"Look where you're going, Joe!" she cried.

"Do you want to kill us?"

Turning back to the wheel, he asked over his shoulder, "Where did you hear that?" , "I heard Bella talking to cook ... oh, ages ago....

Mary, the Prince's maid told her."

"Good God!" said Doctor Richards. Mrs. Richards said nothing; she was thinking of two years ago tonight when they had all gone to the pantomime.

8f,

ANNIE

Annie opened her eyes slowly. She was surprised to find she had to open them, for the last thing she could remember was sitting up in bed, feeling very frightened after having shouted at her gran da Her mind cleared of sleep at once, and the frightened feeling returned; but not so badly, for it was morning now and she could hear her grandma moving about downstairs. Things didn't frighten you so much in the daytime as they did at night, and although she was always afraid of her gran da the feeling became a choking terror in the night when she heard his voice muttering and grumbling at her grandma. She had never before heard her grandma's voice from the other room until last night, and it was this that bad made her shout out. Her gran da voice, low and terrible with menace, had come to her through the thin wall, causing the little body to stiffen on the bed; then her grandma's voice, thick and full of something that struck greater terror into Annie's heart, had cried, "Don't! Oh, don't 1 I won't! I won't!" It was then she could bear it no longer, and she yelled, "Leave her alone, gran da Leave her alone!" A terrible silence had followed, and she had sat, paralysed with fear, waiting for the door to open. And now it was morning, and it was Christmas Eve. A little shiver of ecstasy passed through her, sweeping fear and all thought of last night away.

Bringing her knees up, she curled into a ball and put her head under the clothes, a favourite position when she wanted to think something nice. Tonight she would hang up her stocking, and their Kate would be home today, and at half-past eleven she would see the doctor, and perhaps he'd have time to give her a ride. She gave a succession of shivers and hugged her knees tighter.

When her grandmother gently turned back the clothes, Annie's green eyes laughed up at her, her lashes curled like a dark smudge under the line gf her arched eyebrows, her delicate-tinted skin flushed with her own breath. Her grandmother straightened out the strands of tumbled, silver hair that had escaped from one plait, and arranged, with little stroking movements, the fringe on her forehead: "Come on, hinny; it's time you were up."

"It's Christmas Eve, grandma!"

"Yes, hinny, it's Christmas Eve."

"And Santa Claus will come tonight!"

"He will that, my hairn. But come on, get up now; and hurry."

No word of last night, but the sight of her grandma with her sleeves down brought it all back to Annie's mind. She didn't expect